Maritimes revisited

Nothing dims the thrill of exploring Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

By Ray Turchansky, FreelanceNovember 10, 2008

You can go back. Twice in fact.

In 1967 the federal government celebrated Canada's Centennial with an exchange program that sent high school students by train to live with families on the other side of the country, visiting Parliament Hill in Ottawa and Expo 67 along the way. As part of the County of Leduc group, I stayed with the Carl Ring family outside of Digby, N.S., world famous for its scallops.

I went back to Digby 20 years later, in 1987, during the September "Colour Season" when maple and oak leaves turn magnificent orange and red and yellow hues. And I returned to Digby once again this summer, 40 years after my first visit, this time with my wife Lorraine plus sons Zak, 15, and Jay, 13. And since it was the 100th anniversary of Canada's birth that had brought me to Digby in the first place, this time I also visited the cradle of Confederation, Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Contrary to the adage that things are never as good when you return to an old haunt, this journey resurrected marvellous coming-of-age memories, and refreshed an appreciation for the culture and history of people living off the land and the sea, drawn together by the isolation of being a small picturesque community in the Annapolis Valley along Nova Scotia's northwest coast.

While Leduc has grown from a town of 2,500 people in 1967 to a city of 17,000, a fact reporter Jonathan Riley of The Digby Courier said "I just can't comprehend," Digby's official population of 2,311 has slipped about 200 people during the past four decades.

The town was named after Rear Admiral Sir Robert Digby, captain of HMS Atalanta, who led a hearty band of United Empire Loyalists to settle in the area in 1783. Another captain, Roland Wormell, sensed in 1920 that there might be scallops off Digby's shore, and raked up 55 pounds that he sent to Boston. Since then, Digby has been famous for having the world's largest inshore scallop fleet, which drags the sweetest of shellfish off the floor of the Digby Basin of the Bay of Fundy, and sends them to the finest restaurants in Nova Scotia and beyond.

In 1967, it took us five and a half hours to travel the 230 kilometres from Halifax to Digby by bus on Highway 1, which was called "the world's longest main street" because of all the communities it went through. But Highway 101 built during the 1970s and '80s has reduced the travel time to two and a half hours by car.

Our family arrived in Digby in time to catch the last day of the 32nd annual Digby Scallop Days, a four-day celebration during the second week in August, which features buskers, arts and crafts displays, a haunted history walk and everything imaginable involving scallops, from shucking them to skipping their shells in the bay.

We watched the woodcutting and splitting competition, Seadawg the Magic Pirate, and of course Ug the Neanderthal cavemen juggler. Then from the balcony of our Dockside Suites hotel room we enjoyed a spectacular 45-minute fireworks display in front of the scallop fleet, which had fallen some 35 feet in five hours due to Digby's almost equally famous tides.

"Some people say Scallop Days isn't what it used to be, but I had a lot of fun," said Riley, who is from Digby, but grew up in nearby Windsor before returning here last year.

That tends to happen a lot in Digby, people return, willing to give up big-city jobs for a lifestyle with less stress and more proximity to nature and family.

At Club 98, I chatted with Barry, originally from Digby, who spent 13 years working in Alberta's oilsands, but returned to Digby a year ago and works in a restaurant kitchen. And I made the 13-kilometre drive to Barton, visiting the late Carl Ring's son Keith for the first time in 40 years, in the house where we'd spent much of my 1967 visit.

Keith had worked as an engineer in Newfoundland for a decade and in Halifax, and bought the century-old farmhouse -- actually two houses fused into one -- from his mom in 1993 when she moved into a Digby seniors' apartment. He joked that he and his wife Carol are now "50-something hippies, living off the land," selling Christmas trees and strawberries.

He said the mainstays of Digby's economy are shell fishing, tourism and forestry, while ship building and fin fishing have fallen off. For nearly two decades, people have fought to prevent a basalt quarry from being built in nearby Digby Neck.

While the town still lures visitors because of its scallops, and the Digby Pines Golf Resort and Spa stands as majestic as when I swam in its pool and ate lobster salad in its restaurant in 1967, tourism has expanded to whale watching and spending a day catching lobsters.

Looking at the 40-year-old copy of the Digby Courier

I had brought along, with a front-page picture of me being greeted upon arrival in town, reporter Riley wondered why I'd come back without visiting Digby Neck, the nearby sliver of land he described as "a whole other world" of beauty.

But my original Digby visit had been part of a celebration of Canada's birth as a nation, and the site of that awaited, in Charlottetown.

Instead of taking the ferry from Digby to Saint John, N.B. and driving through Moncton and across the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island, we opted to drive along Nova Scotia's scenic Highway 14, from Windsor, the Birthplace of Hockey, to Milford, then taking the ferry at Pictou to P.E.I.

In 1864, delegates from P.E.I., New Brunswick and Nova Scotia planned a meeting to discuss a possible union of the maritime colonies of British North America, but the province of Canada, which included present day Ontario and Quebec, joined the gathering.

The agreement to form a union was signed in the Confederation Chamber of what it now Province House, which since 1847 has housed the legislature of Prince Edward Island.

The room has been restored, and outside the building, each afternoon in July and August, costumed young actors portraying the Fathers and Ladies of Confederation re-enact the founding of our country.

Right across from Province House stands Founders Hall, a museum and gift shop, built in 2001 in a century-old former CN railcar repair shop. The museum takes you through a visual and audio timeline of the formation of Canada, from the 1964 Charlottetown Conference to the 1999 creation of Nunavut.

While my son described it as "the Grade 7 social sciences curriculum boiled down to 30 minutes," the exhibit is a fascinating study in what brought individual provinces into Confederation -- usually poverty, the need for a sound railroad, or both in the case of P.E.I.

An adjacent attraction called SandLand depicts local landmarks and scenes carved in giant sand formations.

The rest of our maritime trip included visits to the usual landmarks, like Anne of Green Gables house northwest of Charlottetown and Peggy's Cove southwest of Halifax.

If you like "alcoholeries," as son Jay calls them, Alexander Keith's Brewery in Halifax has costumed actors leading tours, and the Glenora Distillery near Glenville on Cape Breton Island is the only one in Canada making single malt whisky.

For fun, you can ride the amphibious Harbour Hopper and Theodore Tugboat in Halifax, or visit Joe's Drive-In Theatre of Scarecrows in Cap Le Moine, part of a magnificent Cape Breton experience.

It, like Digby, makes you want to return.

HOW TO GET THERE:

The easiest way to get to Digby, N.S., is to fly to Halifax and then drive.

WestJet, Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz fly either directly to Halifax, or through other cities, most often Toronto. You can also get to Halifax from Edmonton by train, a nearly four-day Via Rail trip with stopovers in Toronto and Montreal.

Once you get to Halifax, it used to take five-and-a-half hours to travel the 235 kilometres from Halifax to Digby on Highway 1, a scenic route with low speed limits as it winds through numerous small communities. But Highway 1, built during the 1970s and '80s, has reduced the travel time to two and a half hours.

If you are coming to Nova Scotia by way of New Brunswick, you can ride the ferry between Saint John and Digby, a three-hour journey for autos and foot traffic, which may offer whale sightings.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.